Well readers this has been an odd week. It started with the usual diatribe from political parties slugging it out supported with a two day hartal to start with and further ones scheduled in the week. Of course there were regrettably deaths, violence and the general mayhem. It was odd walking home on Sunday eve (our Monday, in case you had forgotten) down empty streets with a gusty wind blowing the dust around. It was a bit like walking into Dodge city. The only thing missing would have been some tumbleweed floating past, or because it is Dhaka, a rickshaw freewheeling past with no rider.
Why the hartals? Pretty easy to explain. The BNP held a rally and coincidentally the police raided the headquarters, arrested the various leaders and allegedly found 'cocktails'. These are not the usual martini's or wallbangers, which on hearing cocktails, my ears pricked up, but sadly mistaken. No these were Molotov cocktails / bomblets. Anyhow the BNP demanded their leaders release which didn't happen and low and behold more hartals. Supposedly when the BNP were in power they did the same to the opposition - the Awami league - Tit for tat then. That's politics in Bangladesh for you readers.
Anyhow the rhetoric was ramping up along with the temperature and humidity and there was definitely an air of something about to happen or could kick off. Not immediately but definitely in the future. However, regrettably but thankfully the country's President Zillur Rahman died and was laid to rest today. He'd had a long illness which created complications just over a week ago resulting him to seek treatment in Singapore where he died on Wednesday.
His death resulted in defusing the situation, the BNP postponing their latest hartal and allowing the country to show unity. The irony is that the President, one for getting people to talk to each other without bloodshed, lying in state meant that the two political leaders had to be in the same room together to pay their respects - of course they never talked to each other. The awful thing is that the BNP have never sat in the parliament and acted like an opposition party. So democracy in action - maybe not. Supposedly there was a recent poll and the two parties are neck and neck which is quite concerning. No doubt more to come on that one in the future.
However when the President died there was three days of national mourning announced with Thursday, the return of the body, a national holiday. Not sure on what to expect, all proposed golfing was cancelled. It was odd - there was a calmness to Dhaka. At present I am still not sure whether people cared or not, knew he was or wasn't etc etc. but on TV, you could see people were out in force to pay their respects.
Next week will be the start of something new and the process to elect a new President underway. Whether that will maintain the defused situation or the President's passing just merely pressed the pause button for the status quo to return next week - who knows. Just now though there is, in Dhaka, an uneasy calm.
Why the hartals? Pretty easy to explain. The BNP held a rally and coincidentally the police raided the headquarters, arrested the various leaders and allegedly found 'cocktails'. These are not the usual martini's or wallbangers, which on hearing cocktails, my ears pricked up, but sadly mistaken. No these were Molotov cocktails / bomblets. Anyhow the BNP demanded their leaders release which didn't happen and low and behold more hartals. Supposedly when the BNP were in power they did the same to the opposition - the Awami league - Tit for tat then. That's politics in Bangladesh for you readers.
Anyhow the rhetoric was ramping up along with the temperature and humidity and there was definitely an air of something about to happen or could kick off. Not immediately but definitely in the future. However, regrettably but thankfully the country's President Zillur Rahman died and was laid to rest today. He'd had a long illness which created complications just over a week ago resulting him to seek treatment in Singapore where he died on Wednesday.
His death resulted in defusing the situation, the BNP postponing their latest hartal and allowing the country to show unity. The irony is that the President, one for getting people to talk to each other without bloodshed, lying in state meant that the two political leaders had to be in the same room together to pay their respects - of course they never talked to each other. The awful thing is that the BNP have never sat in the parliament and acted like an opposition party. So democracy in action - maybe not. Supposedly there was a recent poll and the two parties are neck and neck which is quite concerning. No doubt more to come on that one in the future.
However when the President died there was three days of national mourning announced with Thursday, the return of the body, a national holiday. Not sure on what to expect, all proposed golfing was cancelled. It was odd - there was a calmness to Dhaka. At present I am still not sure whether people cared or not, knew he was or wasn't etc etc. but on TV, you could see people were out in force to pay their respects.
Next week will be the start of something new and the process to elect a new President underway. Whether that will maintain the defused situation or the President's passing just merely pressed the pause button for the status quo to return next week - who knows. Just now though there is, in Dhaka, an uneasy calm.